Marine Village
Welcome to the Marine Village page of Marine Histroical Society.
Travel of Early Settlers to the Marine Settlement:
Some of the pioneer families reached the Marine Settlement by two different routes. Some traveled through Virginia, then by way of the Shenanoah Valley to Tennessee, through the Cumberland Gap to Kentucky, ferried by flatboats across the Ohio River to Shawneetown in Southern Illinois. From there, they continued their overland journey in their conveyances such as covered wagons, two wheel carts, horseback, and rockaways (a four-wheeled pleasure carriage with two or three seats (each for two persons) and a standing top). The other route was to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where flatboats were secured and used to float down from the Ohio River to Shawneetown traveling the overland trail by wagon to Saint Louis, Missouri and the to the prairie.
THE START OF MARINE SETTLEMENT:
1813 - Major Issac Ferguson and John Warrick were the first settlers. They built the first cabins in Section 32. more on Issac H. Ferguson
1813 - Rev. Sammuel Lindley, a Baptist minister, preached the first sermon at the residence of Major Ferguson. Peter Cartwright preached the first Methodist sermon.
1814 - Arthur Travis taught the first school in Major Ferguson's smoke house. Elisabeth A. Ferguson, daughter of Major I. H. Ferguson, was the first child born which occurred on 14 March 1814.
1815 - John Barnsby and Mary Johnson was the first marriage. Leffert French and Sarah Matthews were also married. Elijah Ferguson, brother of Major Ferguson, was the first death.
1819 - Captain Curtiss Blakeman, with a party of seventy-two (72) emigrants, settled in Marine; many of them and their descendants, being prominent citizens of Madison County in 1873.
1819 - Captain Blakeman and his party purchased 1,120 acres of land in Marine Township in Section 32 and 33 at the cost of $1.25 per acre.
Between 1818 and 1835 Major Issac Ferguson and Rowland P. Allen were alternating Postmasters. The Post Offices were located in their homes. [In 1775, Benjamin Franklin was the first Postmaster General under the Comtinental Congress. In 1789, the federal post office was created under the new government of the United States. By the start of the 1800s, the Post Office Department bought several stagecoaches for transporting both mail and passengers on the nations post roads. In 1823 the Post Office began using steamboats to transport mail between river-linked towns that shared no common road. By 1831, it had began sending mail short distances via trains ('iron horses') and remained the major mail carries until replaced by automobiles and trucks at the beginning of the 20th century. The Pony Express was operated between 1860 until closure on 26 October 1861.] It appears that the early mail delivery to the Marine Settlement was by stagecoach. Early records indicate that the two-story building located on the southwest corner of Duncan and Division Streets on Route 143 (known as "Hagenbruch's Travern") was the "drop-off point" for mail by stagecoaches and the Pony Express. Prior to the development of the town of Marine, the "drop-off point" was probably at the Ferguson and Allen homes.
1820 - A town was platted and lots were offered for sale "in the town of Madison in the Marine Settlement", by Captain Curtiss Blakeman, George Allen and several other settlers. The sale was held on 18 November 1820 but was not successful. The Marine Settlement (named for the early sea-faring pioneers) were just small groups of cabins.
1820 - Captain Curtiss Blakeman donated land for building the first church and school house. The church was built in 1821 and was the "Union Church". The building was still standing in 1873 but the building had been moved to another location and was being used as a barn. The first real school house was built the same year.
1822 - Charles Curtiss (cemetery inventory indicates his first name was George) was the first teacher. He died on 18 September 1822, at the age of 24 years 8 months. He was the first burial on the grounds next to the church. This burial was the start of what was to become the Marine Cemetery.
1823 - Captain Curtiss Blakeman Built a grist mill located in the northwest corner of Marine. It was first run with oxen but a windmill was later used for its power. It burnt down but no information is known as to the date and cause.
1833 - Captain Curtiss Blakeman died on 20 May 1833 at the Marine Settlement of cholera. His daughter, Bythenia, also died on the same day of cholera. His second wife, Eliza, died the next day (21 May) of cholera. They were buried in the northeast section of the Marine Cemetery.
1834 - George W. Welsh, James Semple, Jordan W. Jeffress, and Abram Breath laid out the town of Marine, on part of Section 16, which is the location of the current village. In 1873, it was known as a thriving town of over 1,000 inhabitants. Abram Breath gave the village a gift of approximately 4 acres for the village park.
1836 - On 10 May 1836, the town of Marine was platted. On 14 July 1836, the plat was recorded in the Madison County Courthouse by Abram Breath, George W. and Mary Welsh.